A Complete Guide on Assembling a Gaming PC

January 29, 2010

This post is gonna be too interesting for gamers like me. I was a hardcore gamer and also assembled few PC’s so I thought I could help out some of the people who are going to assemble one or just upgrade it.

We will starts from basic to the top. I will also describe what this thing does and will also describe some additional information with it.

Lets start.

Introduction:

Gaming PCs are generally assembled so that they deliver maximum performance while gaming. A guy does not wants to get stuck on 5-6 fps (Frames Per Second) while playing GTA IV. Well too embarrassing. It needs the correct configuration. By correct configuration I mean that  we don’t place a Nvidia 7300 with Intel Core i7. In this configuration the processor’s power will go waste.

Components:

  • Case: Case is the first thing one should keep in mind as the case describes the Motherboard form factor and the SMPS(Power Supply Unit). A case should be well ventilated as long hours of gaming may take the temperatures to as high as 90 C. Take a case with at least two fans as the heat will also degrade the PC’s performance. Cases range from Rs 500 to Rs 20,000. Some well known manufacturing companies are Cooler Master, iBall, Thermal take and others. Choose the best considering the upper points which fits your budget.
  • Processor: Processor is the unit which is more important that the GPU (Graphics card). The more powerful the processor the better gaming experience. The Processors are manufactured by two leading companies Intel and AMD. Check out the processor with best performance in your budget. Make sure it’s socket is compatible with your Motherboard. Also the thing that most people confuse with. AMD’s motherboard are different from Intel’s motherboard. A motherboard ment for using with AMD processor won’t fit an Intel Processor.
  • Motherboard: This is the main component as all the hardware you are gonna buy is ultimately getting fit into this board. Choose the board with atleast 1 PCIe Express 2.0 slot(For 1GPU) and supports your processor. You an opt for more than 1 Slots if you want to crosfire two GPUs. Also check what memory modules would your motherboard support. Most gaming motherboards are made by Asus, Gigabyte, MSI & Biostar.
  • RAM: Most games today(I am not talking about solitaire) spit on 1GB Ram. Check the speed, module your motherboard supports and buy Ram accordingly. Minimum recommended ram for a gaming pc is 2GB. Maximum can be taken to anywhere like my friend from Germany has 16GB Ram installed which even laughs at my 4GB. Ram’s come in different varities according to their clock speed and other factors. Most gamers use Rams by OCZ, Gskill, Silicon power or other but we can work it out with cheap one like kingston.
  • GPU: GPU aka The Video Card is the life of the gaming PC. Video Cards range from Rs 1000 to Rs 40000. And SLI(Nvidia) or crosfire(ATI) costs even more. Check out the GPU which has a good performance with a PCI 2.0 Support, Latest DirectX 10 or 11 support, DDR3 or above memory type, and other features which suits your need. The GPU I used was MSI ATI Radeon 4850 1GB OC Edition which cost me Rs12000 1 month after its launch. You can also install 2 or more GPU according to your Mot herboard and SMPS. The best chipsets are available from ATI and Nvidia and the manufacturers are MSI, Asus, Palit, Sapphire etc.
  • Display: Choose a monitor with a bigger screen for better experience and a high resolution. Check out the monitors refresh rate, response rate and others. Get a screen of about 20″ or you could also attach the LCD or Plasma with HDMI port of your GPU.
  • SMPS: SMPS is the power supply unit of your CPU. Choose a SMPS which meets minimum requirement of your GPU and supports its connectors. i recommend to buy this from a branded company as it handles all the responsibility of saving your PC from the voltage fluctuations or other shit. Major producers are Coolermaster, Zebronics, Targus & others.
  • HDD: Get a good Hard Disk with enough storage space to meet your future requirements. I recommend minimum 500GBs as games can be as large as 20GB. Get hard disks from Seagate, Western Digital and samsung.

Additional Items:

  • FANS: Choose some extra fan as they are often cheap and will give your PC a long life.
  • Sound Cards: For people who are just crazy about sound quality pick up a Sound card but they are too expensive.
  • Disk Drive: They can be bought according to your wish.
  • Keyboard and mouse: Keyboard and mouse have a different category for gaming. There are many types available but they aren’t cheap.


My Gaming PC Configuration:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.8GHZ

Motherboard: A crapy one Intel DG31 something

HDD: 500 GB WD

GPU: MSI ATI Radeon 4850 1 GB OC Edition

RAM: 4 GB kingston.

Display: LG 19″ LCD

Case: I ball something.

Please excuse for any mistake as I am not used for writing long article. Drop a comment in the post if you have any question. :-)

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  • { 22 comments… read them below or add one }

    Chethan Thimmappa January 29, 2010 at 9:36 pm

    Well done Sukhjit.
    This is an One Stop Guide for Assembling Gaming PC…
    Though I am not a HardCore Gamer… I enjoyed reading your Tutorial… Neatly explained step by step! I never Knew so Many Factors could influence to assemble a Good Gaming PC! The Only Thing which I knew was Graphics Card, Graphics Card and Graphics Card!

    Keep up The Good Work bro!
    Tweeted :)

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh January 29, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    Thanks Chethan!
    Sukhjit Singh´s last blog ..Hardcore Social Network Addict? Commit Web 2.0 Suicide My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Siddhu January 29, 2010 at 9:55 pm

    Nice Post.. Something which should be done properly and patiently for the best gaming experience… Your PC Configuration is good…
    Siddhu´s last blog ..Opera 10.5 – browsing boost (Lifehacker) My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh January 29, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    Thanks!
    Sukhjit Singh´s last blog ..Hardcore Social Network Addict? Commit Web 2.0 Suicide My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Siddartha January 29, 2010 at 9:59 pm

    Hey man!! Really ur making ur impact @ Chaaps. Kewl article.

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh January 29, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    Thanks a lot!
    Sukhjit Singh´s last blog ..Hardcore Social Network Addict? Commit Web 2.0 Suicide My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Hariharakumar January 29, 2010 at 10:52 pm

    cool man, great guide, very helpful
    Hariharakumar´s last blog ..Get notified when desired Twitter username becomes available My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh January 30, 2010 at 10:37 am

    Thanks! I am glad if I could help anyone!
    Sukhjit Singh´s last blog ..Awesome Movie Fonts My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Unlock 3Gs January 30, 2010 at 1:17 am

    Nice post, i have the icute case for my pc and have to say it looks cool.

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh January 30, 2010 at 10:36 am

    Cool! The same in the pic above???? I love that fan on front!
    Sukhjit Singh´s last blog ..Awesome Movie Fonts My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    TechChunks January 30, 2010 at 10:12 am

    Great detailed tutorial. Good thing about this post is that you can assemble a non-gaming PC too using the above tips.

    However here is the Config. of my Gaming PC that I assembled:

    Processor: AMD Qudracore @ 2.6GHZ

    Motherboard: Will have to open the case to see. I really forgot. Must be an Asus.

    HDD: 500 GB SeaGate

    GPU: MSI ATI Radeon 4850 1 GB OC Edition

    RAM: 4 GB kingston.

    Display: LG 17″ LCD

    Case: Never gave it a sh!t. It is non-branded! :P
    TechChunks´s last blog ..Control Gecko With Your Fingertips: GTA Chinatown Wars on iPhones [Video Game Review] My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Anish K.S January 31, 2010 at 9:26 am

    @ Sukhjit Singh, great tutorial, thanks for the images and details.

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh January 31, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    Thanks Anish. Hope it helped!
    Sukhjit Singh´s last blog ..Awesome Movie Fonts My ComLuv Profile

    Reply

    Williams February 1, 2010 at 11:16 am

    Great Tutorial @ Sukjhit Singh. Really it help in beginners making gaming pc.

    Reply

    Piyush Shekhar February 20, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    Nice Post, would love to subscribe to this blog !

    Reply

    Chethan Thimmappa February 20, 2010 at 10:30 pm

    Thanks a Lot

    Reply

    BadMan May 7, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    nice post:-

    My Current Config:-
    Processor:-AMD Phenom X4 2.3 GHZ
    Ram:-Kingston 3GB
    Hard Disk:-Seagate 160GB
    Motherboard:-MSI K9 V series
    Display:-AOC 831S+ 19′LCD
    Case and power supply:-iBall
    Graphics:-Nvidia Geforce 8400GS (got it for free from a fren but will upgrade to GTX 295)….
    OS-Windows XP Pro Sp2

    there’s a lot of work left to be done but till then ALL IS WELL!!!!

    Reply

    Vinay June 8, 2010 at 9:59 pm

    Hi

    Your article is very informative and simple. My current PC configuration is as
    Processor: Intel Pentium4
    RAM: 2GB
    Hard Disk: Seagate 80GB
    Motherboard: (no idea)
    Display: 19″ Viewsonic
    Case & power supply: iBall
    Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce PCI-E 5300
    OS: Windows XP SP2

    I want to upgrade it to a fully dedicated gaming PC which need not be upgraded in near future. Please advise. Eagerly await your response.

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh June 9, 2010 at 11:40 am

    Hi,
    If you want a gaming PC I reccomend to start making your CPU from scratch. The Single core pentium 4 is no good for gaming and the ram which I guess is DDR1 will be slow. The following things need to be upgraded: Processor, ram, HDD(If you want), Motherboard, GPU and powersupply too if needed.

    I would need your budget to get you the exact configrations.
    Waiting for your reply!

    Reply

    ronnie June 18, 2010 at 11:22 pm

    i don’t knw what’s wrong with my config, i can’t get sound in PROTOTYPE by activision, i’ve done everthing possible i can. my pc configuration is ; intel dg 31,gpu-quad core Q6600@2.4GHz,ram-4gb,graphic card-9500 with latest updated driver. can u fix my pro’lem

    Reply

    Sukhjit Singh June 19, 2010 at 9:36 am

    Well, I didn’t had any problem with prototype even If I had finished the whole Game. Still I googled out and found that some users reported the fix by updating to latest direct x.
    If still it does not work you may follow these instructions given on this website: http://ahkong.net/prototype-sound-fix/

    Reply

    Dibakar July 26, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    I want to buy a gaming computer. My budget is nearly 28k to 30k. Can you help of to assemble it please?:-)

    Reply

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